There has been some Idiot Ball carrying from GK's side, yes, but arguably not quite in the ways either of you indicate.

Firstly, as far as Parson was concerned way back when, the Dwagons and the Archons were ordered over Spacerock while it was GK's turn, after what had been a wonderful trick which left most of the Jetstone troops out of the city. With the data GK had when that plan was cooked up, it was a good plan.

Ok, to get out of that bind, there was the harvesting trick. Here Parson decides to be tactically suboptimal, in that he wants to go to the front lines for very little tactical benefit, if any. Meanwhile, Wanda orders the tower attacked by the Siege-capable Dwagons- which was a good idea, as it used the available units in the best way possible at the time and offered a chance to end the battle. Some further blunders occurred here when Wanda forgot about Parson's OTP with the Portal.

Finally, Jack and Wanda go to the MK, in what was arguably not a good move.

Ok, let me ask you, between Wanda and Hamster and the other warlords, who's the tactical genius again? And who has the super probability bracer?

I'm not saying Wanda is an horrible commander, but she's still a psycho fanatic witch whitout much experience on actually leading troops besides trying to copy Hamster's tricks and decrypted steamroll.

When you have a supreme warlord, with an artifact that can calculate the future, and a thinkmancer to go with it, you should really ask for his advice in such delicate situations as fighting an heavily defended enemy capital.

Doubly so when said capital had an "unknown mancer". Wanda above everyone should know how hax a mancer can be when given time to set up. Hamster told her the most optimal solution would just be to burn everything to a crisp and call it a day, and she goes and starts parleys and then sits there as a perfect target for tower spells.

Triple so when you've forced to crash land and the supreme warlord that devised the plan to save your ass tells you to hold untill he gets there. You do not then engage in destroying the portal trough which your supreme warlord intends to come from!
On Hamster going to the frontlines himself: I really don't see it as bad as most other people are puting it. There's lots of stuff to gain from it:
-Real time intellegence. On the battle for GK Hamster had the tri-mancer link to give him a perfect vision of the battlefield. Now Misty's thinkmancy can go only so far as to tell him what's going on.
Unlike a game player, Hamster can't see the battle with his own eyes from the capital. By being on the tick of the action, Hamster can react faster and more efficiently to the enemy actions. Really this is critical. Wars are won and lost on the commanders geting better and faster intellegence from the battlefield.

-Chief Warlord Bonus. Even if not that big, stacking multipliers is what's Erfworld combat is all about. Hamster makes his troops fight better just for being there.

-Sweet delicious exp. Hamster could really use some levels. Who knows, as a special unit, he may even unlock new hax abilities like "MK travel"!

Actually, presumably, so are Jack and Wanda now ... if it isn't reversible, then that has some pretty long term consequences.

Jack and Wanda aren't Heavy units. The Hobgobwins are. Jack and Wanda turned their mounts into shish kebabs in order to fall. By turning the hobgobs into Heavies, some of the dewagons might have survived the fall to the Atrium and be useful just that much longer.

Jack and Wanda aren't Heavy units. The Hobgobwins are. Jack and Wanda turned their mounts into shish kebabs in order to fall. By turning the hobgobs into Heavies, some of the dewagons might have survived the fall to the Atrium and be useful just that much longer.

Personally, I feel Parson's entry into combat as one of abandoning his position as a Player.

No, just a different kind of player. In a war game, the Player sits above the mess and issues orders. In an RPG, the player is in the thick of things. Parson was neither until he got re-promoted. Now he's both.

Note that this mirrors the historical transition from miniature war games to Dungeons and Dragons on Earth.